I wasn't sure whether I wanted a narrator or not here, as we follow the activities of the days immediately following the death of Joseph Stalin in March 1953. A commentary might have helped me appreciate just who was whom as a procession of dignitaries from home and abroad, but the lack of that and the reliance on the public address announcements did work really effectively at illustrating the esteem in which this man was held - or, certainly, the esteem in which the Communist party wanted him to be held. What we see for the next two hours is an astonishing testament of the archivists arts as both monochrome and colour footage is used to show us just how extensive the mourning was and how grand the funeral ceremony looked as Messrs. Malenkov, Molotov and Beria (along with a fair smattering of the Patriarchy) tried to outdo each other with honorific superlatives as they imbued the deceased with an almost super-human degree of brilliance, vision and dedication to his country and it's Leninist-Marxist cause. It was those eulogies that I found quite interesting as they topped off a documentary that very much demonstrated the cult of personality. Their directly personal nature seemed to fly in the face of the supposed doctrine of communism that refuses to acknowledge the significance of any one man over the community - yet here, the names of their founding fathers are extolled in a manner that appeared profoundly contradictory. "The greatest genius the world has ever known" or the peculiarly inappropriate "immortal" descriptions rather over-egged what is already a gushingly forced vision of state-sponsored melancholy. People seemed to weep to order, on cue, as the cameras rolled and the ever increasing size of wreaths were laid, one upon the other, as if to set up a league table of grief. Did the state control all of the florists? Historians will never agree on the extent to which this man was a tyrannical murderer or a patriot dealing with a failing post-war economy or maybe a bit of both, but that's not what this film is for. It's a colourful and striking look at something society feels the need to do time immemorial for it's leaders - be they kings, presidents or despots, and that's to see them off in great splendour whilst manoeuvring to take the spoils.
First responders, journalists, shop owners, those inside the pressure-packed control center of Con Edison on West End Avenue, and other New Yorkers tell about what happened when the lights went out on July 13, 1977.
German-made documentary about Claude Dornier, the aeronautical engineer and founder of Dornier GmbH which built warplanes for Germany in both world wars. Dornier's descendants are interviewed.
Made shortly after the referendum on Quebec's independence was held, this documentary illustrates what the politicians' promises were and how the population did not really care nor truly understand what was really at stake, even though just about everyone had an opinion on the subject.
Did you know that 1% of the white noise you see on old televisions is background radiation from The Big Bang? That the gold on a wedding ring comes from a star that exploded 5 billion years ago? And, that we're connected to the salt water of the first oceans through the water in our bodies? Our human story is actually 14 billion years old and the clues are all around us. This CGI-driven special will tell the history of our world in two hours, an ambitious story that will give surprising connections to our daily lives. From the formation of the earth and the emergence of life, to the advance of man and the growth of civilization, it’s a rapid-fire view of our unforgettable story.
The story of the space shuttle - it's triumphs and disasters - and the dream of building an affordable and reusable spacecraft
From Washington to Saigon, Rome to Mexico, Paris to Prague, a wave of protests shook the world. 68 looks back at the looks back at the Vietnam War, the Prague Spring and the Soviet Invasion, the Paris riots, Dubcek, Che Guevara, De Gaulle, Cohn-Bendrik and more. A dive into the chaos of a turbulent year, featuring fantastic colour footage and the music of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrisson and Bob Dylan.
A six-night miniseries presenting the history of how the United States was invented, looking at the moments where Americans harnessed technology to advance human progress - from the rigors of linking the continent by transcontinental railroad to triumphing over vertical space through the construction of steel-structured buildings. The series also is a story of conflict, with Native American peoples, slavery, the Revolutionary War that birthed the nation, the Civil War that divided it, and the great world war that shaped its future.
In the spring of 1903, on a whim and a fifty-dollar bet, Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson set off from San Francisco in a 20-horsepower Winton touring car hoping to become the first person to cross the United States in the new-fangled "horseless carriage." Most people doubted that the automobile had much of a future. Jackson's trip would prove them wrong.
The Pictorians have arrived from deep in space. They also have dangly glow-balls on their heads, which is kinda cool, but still. The freaky aliens are using use their crazy rainbow-beam-thingy to paint everything on Earth the same color: white! See, now the title of the movie makes more sense, right? Anyway, if the Pictorians are to be stopped, the Allied guys and the Axis boys - plus some new characters, too - must set aside their differences, unite against their common foe, and hopefully get together for a sweaty workout to make sure they're super-ready to save the world!
An Irish doctor survived the atomic bomb attack on Nagasaki and was given a Samurai sword for the lives he saved. 70 years later his family searches for the origin of their father's sword.
Documentary examining Bokassa's rule in the Central African Republic using the testimony of witnesses and visits to key sites.